5th Circuit Upholds ‘Under God’ in Pledge of Allegiance

A federal appeals court has ruled that the words “under God” in the Pledge of Allegiance do not violate the establishment clause.

The New Orleans-based 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals noted in its decision (PDF) that three other federal appeals courts have upheld the constitutionality of the Pledge. The Supreme Court has never directly addressed the issue, the court said, “but has suggested in dicta, time and again, that the pledge is constitutional.”

Texas first added the words “under God” to its Pledge in 2007, spurring a suit by Dallas resident David Wallace Croft and his wife, Shannon, the Dallas Morning News reports. They had argued their children were harmed when the pledge was recited because they were impressionable and faced peer pressure if they left the classroom.